


In Which There is Torture

by Catbunblue302



Series: Whump for Bunnies [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Capture, Gen, Happy Ending, Kidnapping, One Shot, Rescue, Torture, Whipping, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:33:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26807416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catbunblue302/pseuds/Catbunblue302
Summary: You really ought to pay attention to your surroundings when people who hate you are about.(Now updated to have proper spacing between the paragraphs)
Series: Whump for Bunnies [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949197
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	In Which There is Torture

**Author's Note:**

> A brief note on the world, feel free to skip this part:  
> Several thousand years ago Ciel was cursed to obey and protect The Crown*. He was ordered to give up all information he had on demons which resulted in humans winning the humans vs. demons war. The demons were then sealed away deep underground. The seal requires upkeep and the current Prince, Swift, made a li'l oopsie and forgot to do that so all the demons have escaped and are, quite reasonably, pissed at being imprisoned for several thousand years. (note: demons have the same life span as a human. Ciel is neither and is immortal, however he believes himself to be a demon)  
> *The Crown is the collective term for The Prince, who is human and The Queen, who is a demon. The titles don't change regardless of gender
> 
> Takes place after If Thy Hand Offend Thee

Perhaps if Ciel had been paying a little more attention to his surroundings he would’ve noticed the group of demons coming up on him. Instead he’d been crouched in the undergrowth of the forest, gently propping up a small plant which had bent nearly double under the weight of its own flower. It was nice to have help, even if you happened to be a plant.

“There now, that’s better isn’t it?” He said gently to the little flower.

Ciel leaned back a little to admire his handiwork.

“Well, well, what’s this?”

“Hmm… looks to me like a traitor.”

Ciel startled to his feet, and spun to face the strangers. They were demons, all of them around the same age, early twenties. They were grinning at one another like a cat that had pinned a mouse beneath its claws. Ciel was rather uncomfortably aware who happened to be the mouse.

“What do you wanna do with him?”

“Let’s take him back to camp and show him how we feel about backstabbing snakes.”

“Aren’t we supposed to deliver him to The Queen if we find him?”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t rough him up a little first.”

Ciel listened to the conversation with growing unease. He… wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do. Running was out of the question, the fourth demon had his gun trained at Ciel’s heart. And while he was by all evidence immortal he could still feel pain and a bullet wound to the chest would ensure his escape to be a failure. The other option of drawing his sword and killing them all was out for the same reason.

While Ciel had been thinking the demons had evidently finished bickering. One of them had been carrying a bag, and he set it down to remove a bundled coil of rope. Ciel politely offered his hands before him, wrists together. He found it was best to co-operate in these sorts of situations. The demon ignored his silent offer, forcing Ciel to turn and tied his hands behind him instead. He could already feel the knot was sloppily done and would be easy to slip as soon as he had a chance.

Next he was stripped of his weapons, his sword belt taken and thrown off to one of the other demons. The demon patted him down and found nothing more.

“No concealed weapons?” One of his other captors asked, sounding doubtful.

Ciel answered the question himself. “That would be dishonorable.”

“Oh yeah, traitors are well known for their honor.” The demon who’d spoken came forward and searched Ciel herself.

When she was finished she too was forced to concede Ciel wasn’t carrying anything more. Over the years Ciel had had many things taken from him- his free will, his people, his pride. He had one thing that had never been touched: his desire to be polite and honorable, a gentleman. And so he was going to cling to that last thing as desperately as he could.

They set off in a loose group, two in front, one keeping her hand on his lower back as they walked, and the other behind them. Ciel wondered how long it would be until Swift and the others noticed his absence. He wondered if they’d look for him. He hoped they wouldn’t. They probably be taken off guard and captured as well. Or killed, although Ciel was trying very hard not to think about that possibility.

At their camp there were three more demons. They were playing cards when the group arrived but the game was quickly forgotten at the sight of Ciel. They clustered about him jeering and tipping his face from one side to the other to get a better look at ‘the traitor.’ One voice broke through after a bit.

“Who wants to go first?”

“Dibs.”

“Just as well, I want to go last.”

The one who called ‘dibs’ on Ciel grabbed his tie and dragged him over to a tree by the edge of their camp. The rest of the group followed eagerly.

“Alright, whichever one of you tied him up, learn how to tie knots!”

Ciel had been expecting to be immediately re-tied. Instead the rope was loosely coiled and set off to the side.

“Shirt off.” His torturer ordered.

Ciel hesitated.

“Now or it’ll be the pants too and you won’t get them back after I’m done.”

Ciel removed his suit jacket without further fuss. He folded it without thinking and then paused, unsure what to do with it now. His torturer laughed and took it from him, dropping it at the base of the tree. His tie and shirt followed suit until he stood with his torso exposed, blushing fiercely with shame and folding his arms to cover his chest.

“Aww, he’s shy!” One of the audience laughed and the rest laughed with her.

His torturer grabbed Ciel’s hands in his and guided them up to a low branch. “Now you just hold onto that, hmmm? If those hands move it ain’t gonna be good for you, understand?”

“Yes, sir.” This wasn’t the first time by far that Ciel had been tortured or humiliated. He knew by now to be obedient and polite, lest he make things worse for himself.

“Well, aren’t you cute.”

Ciel felt his captor draw back from him. The branch was far enough off the ground that he had to stretch to keep ahold of it. He wasn’t quite on his toes but he could already feel the strain on his muscles. He heard rustling behind him but didn’t dare turn his head to see what was happening.

A sharp crack rang through the air and he yelped at the line of pain that painted down his back. The next blow was expected and Ciel only gasped sharply. Through a lifetime of regular torture and maiming he’d learned to how to stifle his reaction to pain.

The belt came down again and again, crossing and doubling over previous strikes. He began to anticipate the rhythm and could turn most of his attention solely to holding the branch. The beating wasn’t going to make him forget the warning.

“Takin’ it like a trooper. Almost like he knows he deserves it.”

“Shame though, I want to hear him scream.”

“Oh, you want to hear him scream? Alright, hang on.”

Ciel stiffened as the lashes stopped. There was a single set of footsteps that went off and then, after a moment, came back. He could hear liquid sloshing in something as the demon came back. Water?

What were they go-

Oh.

Vinegar.

The demon was right, it did make him scream. It made him scream for a long time, his knuckles going white as the liquid oozed into his broken skin. He didn’t know how long it hurt for, it felt like hours. Ciel hung from the branch panting, desperately wanting to let go and curl up in a ball.

“Look at how obedient you are.” One of the demons purred, the one who had whipped him he thought. “No wonder the humans convinced you to be their dog.”

“Let him down, it’s Basael’s turn. I want to see what she’s got planned.”

“Oh alright. You can put your shirt back on, dog.”

Ciel released the branch, his fingers stiff and sore. The muscles directly under his arms were tired and throbbed, he could barely move them.

Somehow, he managed to get his shirt back on, which promptly adhered to the bloody vinegar on his back. He bit his lip so hard it bled when he was made to walk and his shirt tugged at the lacerations.

Basael, he thought that was what he’d heard her name as, dragged him further into the forest where there was running water, about fifteen meters across. Basael took him into the water and forced him to his knees, facing the shore he’d come from. The water was frigid and on his knees, up to his chest.

Basael grabbed him by the hair and dunked him in. The air was forced from his lungs by the sheer cold of the water and he inhaled a mouthful of it. He panicked and squirmed, trying to push himself out. He could see darkness coming in at the corners of his vision when she let him back up. Ciel gasped in air, ice water running off his hair and from his mouth and nose.

Basael let him have maybe one full breath before she held him back under. Ciel lost track of how many times he was down. She judged she was done when he could no longer hold himself up. He was dragged back up to the bank where he vomited water onto the dirt. He’d slowly grown numb to the temperature while he was in the water but out of it he was cold once more. Ciel shivered so violently he thought he’d throw up again.

“Damn, I wanted to hurt him some more but I think he’s done for the day.”

“Hey, I told you I wanted to go last but you insisted.”

-

Cat crouched in the foliage around the demon’s camp. She’d searched for Ciel’s trail as soon as it’d been discovered he’d was missing. It was sunset by the time she’d found him.

Her fingers ached to rip them to shreds on her friend’s behalf. She wouldn’t follow that urge. Not yet anyway. Ciel wouldn’t like that so she’d just have to come back later.

Cat scanned the camp, plotting the best way to go about getting to him. There was a cluster of demons playing cards in the center of the camp, laughing and chatting. They’d notice her approach from there no matter what angle she came at. Fine then. She could be patient.

It was around eleven when Cat made her move. The demons had gone to bed an hour and a half ago. It was barely light enough for someone to see their hand in front of their face. It didn’t matter much to Cat. When a good chunk of her body had been replaced with metal and circuits one of her eyes had been swapped out as well. Through that one she could use night vision, heat detection, and a whole mess of other things.

Cat crept along the perimeter of the camp to Ciel, quiet as the whirr of her mechanical joints let her be. She glanced back at the tents again before she gently nudged him.

He’d been bound to a tree, his hands behind him. She could see that frost had formed in his hair and he was shivering violently. Had they dunked him in water? It was early spring in Canada, were they trying to kill him? Ciel jumped when she nudged him, looking up at her. Drool ran down his chin, his mouth forced open by a cloth gag. Cat held a finger up to where the mouth would be on her mask.

She undid the gag and didn’t bother with untying the ropes. Her prosthetic arm had claws sharp enough to rend through them.

Cat waited until they were out of earshot of the camp before taking off her jacket and giving it to Ciel.

“I can’t die, I’ll be fine.”

If he hadn’t just been tortured Cat might have considered smacking him upside the head. She continued holding out the jacket, refusing to take no for an answer.

Ciel was quiet for a moment after finally taking it. “… Thank you.”

Cat didn’t ask whether the thanks was for the rescue or the jacket. She helped the shivering demon back home, silently plotting all the gruesome ways she was going to slaughter his captors.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't ask me why a group of 20 somethings are carrying around a huge container of vinegar because I don't know.


End file.
